What is Web Hosting?

A web hosting service provides a service that allows individuals and businesses to post web pages to the internet. A web hosting service provider sells or for free (with advertisements on the web page) is a business that provides the servers and technologies to view web-sites on the internet.

Web hosting services are services that customers can utilize after they have purchased monthly dial up or broadband services that allow them access to the internet. Web hosting services use hosting and client architecture to load content to the server so web pages and information can be viewed on the internet in its original HTML format.

A web hosting company will offer clients access to a server that will provide the clients’ content to individuals on the World Wide Web after they make a URL or domain name request. To view pages on the web, you must have a web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator to request the web page from the server after you have purchased internet access.

Web sites are pages that are stored on a computer called a server. The server is a part of a network of computers on the internet or World Wide Web that allows users of the internet to reach your site anywhere in the world at anytime. The internet is open 24 hours, seven days a week around the clock.

Host computers are configured so that when your URL or domain name is typed in, the address will use a pointer routine (look for the address from terminal to terminal) until it reaches the computer that hosts your web-site. Then, if all is okay, your web site should display itself on the users screen.

Hosting companies require that you buy your URL or domain name first before you purchase hosting services. Most hosting companies have a package that will allow you to buy the domain name and hosting at the same time.

John Ugoshowa
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-hosting-articles/what-is-web-hosting-135395.html

What are the most recommended free web hosting sites?

I’m planning to build a website but since geocities free hosting has shut down, I have to find another web host that is easy to use, navigate, has efficient web tools and has faster loading time. Could anyone share any web host sites and their advantages and disadvantages so I can compare which one is the best? Thanks.

Hi galaxyangel_mint,

The criteria you mentioned seem to apply only to
reliable paid hosting.

I don’t know why you insist on free hosting service
because from the business point of view, they
don’t provide reliable server to run your website,
even though you upgrade to become their paid users
later on.

When you face an urgent matter, they can’t help
you instantly since they only provide email support.

But if you’re building a personal website just to
share with your closed friends and family and not
using it as a business platform, then that probably
justifies your choice.

I personally would not recommend any free web hosting
service for my clients who run businesses because
they really stinks. I’ve used several of them when
I first started out, but they failed me.

Again, if you just want to build a non-profitable
website, any free hosting service will do the trick.
But if you intend to go into business, then I would
suggest you to go get a reliable paid hosting service
which is easy to use, navigate, has efficient web
tools and has faster loading time, as per your expectation.

You might want to refer to the website below which
I found pretty useful and helpful for those who
wanted to know which web hosting service works best
for them.

Best of luck!

Wisely

Whats the difference between Linux web hosting and Windows web hosting?

Heya Please tell em what the difference is between linux web hosting and windows web hosting. I made my site by dreamweaver does that affect either of the 2 i should choose please tell me thanx!

Windows and Linux often use two different web server applications. Windows sites use the Windows IIS server, while nearly all Linux sites use Apache.

Linux sites focus on PHP, Perl and other open-source script languages for server side scripting. Windows-based sites use ,NET and ASP technologies. They might also offer support for PHP.

Linux sites offer MySQL as the database for backend content storage. Windows sites will probably offer SQL Server, though some offer the Windows versions of MySQL as well.

There shouldn’t be any difference between the two if you use strict web standards in your HTML. However, you need to be aware of the fact that, since Dreamweaver is a Windows-only product, it may insert some non-standard things into your HTML. Frontpage also does this.

As long as you stick to accepted web standards and don’t use any Windows-centric stuff in your site, you should have no problems with either one.